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The answer to your question really depends on how DIY you want to go on it...

I enjoy doing my own custom builds so I can maximize my bang for the buck but that's not for everyone.

Yes, older computers can be used but sometimes they're not worth the hassle when six old machines can be simply replaced by a single new one. You have to consider the maintenance factor as you scale up your renderfarm.

I found having my farm made up of identical hardware made trouble shooting a lot easier. When one system is being flakey you can switch out bits from other systems until you find the weak point. Also you can assemble just one software build and clone that across the other systems.

I went with cheap custom built Micro ATX systems packed into a rack tower. Check out the attached image to get a better idea. If you buy within the sweet spot (mid range, not the latest and greatest...) you should be able to assemble some fairly powerful nodes for about $500 each.

You don't need as much RAM in a node since you won't be doing a lot of multitasking with them. (No Maya and Photoshop up at the same time as a render.) Small harddrives, find motherboards with onboard LAN and Video, Quad core CPU's to maximize your density, no DVDROMS, keep them stripped down to the bare essentials! I've even heard of setups that network boot from a server so they don't even need drives but then you need a lot more RAM and a bigger nerd to manage it.

I always buy a single unit, get it running smooth, test the hell out of it and then replicate the build.

Or if your pockets are deep go with a fancy schmancy blade populated rack mount solution. But I'd only do that if I was planning on HUNDREDS of nodes.

Lost Boys Learning is North America's only dedicated visual effects school with world-class training in photo-realistic 3D for VFX and compositing for film and television. Boasting a 94% placement rate Lost Boys Learning offers a specialized 1 year Visual Effects Diploma. Our students work with the award winning VFX Supervisor and experienced mentor, Mark Bénard, in a project-based learning environment, covering VFX pre-production and shooting, 3D for VFX and compositing.

Lost Boys Learning is North America's only dedicated visual effects school with world-class training in photo-realistic 3D for VFX and compositing for film and television. Boasting a 94% placement rate Lost Boys Learning offers a specialized 1 year Visual Effects Diploma. Our students work with the award winning VFX Supervisor and experienced mentor, Mark Bénard, in a project-based learning environment, covering VFX pre-production and shooting, 3D for VFX and compositing.

Lost Boys Learning is North America's only dedicated visual effects school with world-class training in photo-realistic 3D for VFX and compositing for film and television. Boasting a 94% placement rate Lost Boys Learning offers a specialized 1 year Visual Effects Diploma. Our students work with the award winning VFX Supervisor and experienced mentor, Mark Bénard, in a project-based learning environment, covering VFX pre-production and shooting, 3D for VFX and compositing.

Lost Boys Learning is North America's only dedicated visual effects school with world-class training in photo-realistic 3D for VFX and compositing for film and television. Boasting a 94% placement rate Lost Boys Learning offers a specialized 1 year Visual Effects Diploma. Our students work with the award winning VFX Supervisor and experienced mentor, Mark Bénard, in a project-based learning environment, covering VFX pre-production and shooting, 3D for VFX and compositing.